Everyone browses the internet without a second thought and disregards their digital footprint as an irrelevant buzzword. But in fact, it is very important, as all digital activity is recorded, and it forms your digital footprint. The most common tools used to follow your digital trail are cookies and trackers. These tools are essentially small files stored on your device by websites. Their primary use is to help remember useful details such as login information, the state of your shopping cart, and specific settings on the site itself. All of this is in an effort to make your online experience smooth, personal, and ensure it runs efficiently.
Compared to cookies, trackers are similar but more advanced systems that follow user activity across multiple websites. They accurately track browsing patterns and preferences, then store them in dedicated profiles. This data is used to streamline browsing and issue recommended content, but it comes at a cost. Collecting vast amounts of data without your consent is the primary concern, but there are many others. Here, we will explore the world of cookies and trackers and the difference between safe and unsafe practices in this regard.
Types of Cookies
The rise of cookies and personal data collection has many wanting to remove personal information from internet and secure their privacy. But this is best done after we have a greater understanding of our digital habits and the systems we unknowingly interact with. To understand cookies and what makes them good or bad, it is important to understand how they work. It is first important to note that we have two main groups of cookies, and those are safe cookies and tracking and advertising cookies. The former are considered ‘’safe’’ cookies as they are simple cookies created to make a website work correctly and provide a streamlined user experience.
The main examples of these cookies are:
- Session Cookies – These cookies are files that store information while you are on a page. For example, they keep you logged in as you browse from page to page or keep your cart in check.
- Preference Cookies – These cookies suit the settings of a website to your personal preferences. The most common use is to remember language settings, and if you prefer dark or light mode on your device.
- Security Cookies – These cookies are very simple, and their main goal is authentication, which ensures security while browsing.
The aforementioned cookies are all essential to the browsing experience and are why it is so streamlined. Their integration is simple and clear, leading many to view them as safe cookies.
However, we have the other side of the pond, tracking and advertising cookies. The primary goal of these cookies is to monitor browsing habits and build profiles based on individual interests. Once compiled, the profile is used to deliver targeted advertisements or content.
The main examples of tracking and advertising are:
- Advertising Cookies – These are cookies that collect data on searches, clicks, and purchases to understand your interests. With this information, they try to predict what you like and are likely to buy.
- Third-party Cookies – These cookies are cookies from companies other than the website you are currently visiting. Most often, they are ad networks and analytic services aimed at intertwining pages.
These cookies are used by advertisers to make targeted advertising campaigns. Because of this, individuals should consider whether they wish to utilize them and feed their data to brokers.
Privacy Risks of Cookies and Trackers
When allowed to work unchecked, cookies and trackers can lead to significant online privacy compromises. Some of the main risks individuals face when allowing unsafe cookies to run rampant are:
- Extensive Profiling
- Data Sharing Without Consent
- Security Vulnerabilities
- Cross-Device Tracking
- Manipulative Targeting
All of these risks should be taken seriously and can have lasting consequences if data falls into the wrong hands. It is also important to know that another factor in data collection is time. As more data is collected, the risk of data leakage and misuse is further increased, placing you at risk.
How Social Media Uses Cookies and Trackers
When most people talk about cookies and trackers, they fail to mention how widespread they are across all social media platforms. Every time someone uses any social media platform, be it Facebook, Instagram, or X, their activity is documented in detail through cookies and trackers. Social media platforms use all types of cookies and trackers to keep your preferences and activity, giving you a smoother experience, but at what cost? The concern about cookies and trackers on social media is that they overuse third-party cookies and invisible trackers. These tools are seen as bad because they follow your browsing even after you leave the platform.
Because of the widespread use of these cookies and trackers, it is very common for random online stores and pages to acquire personal data about you. For example, if you visit an online store that has a Facebook Pixel, Facebook will know you have visited it and will likely show you an ad for the same product inside its app. This detailed tracking and the behavioral profile created put off many users as it’s simply too much information. These profiles know which websites you visit, products you like, posts you engage with, and even how long you read articles or view videos. All of this is simply too much information that can be misused to be out there, as such privacy concerns are becoming increasingly prevalent.
To make matters worse, these trackers, because of their value, are often integrated with data brokers. Through them, they expand your profiles with even more personal information, just like they do from your Instagram feed and posts you interact with.. This creates detailed profiles that give platforms and advertisers perfect clients for hyper-targeted ads. Ultimately, creating a browsing experience that feels much less like freely exploring the world, but more like being spoon-fed targeted advertisements.
For a long time, this was accepted by the greater populace, but times are changing, and online privacy is becoming more important. As such, a majority of digital users are rejecting this invasive pattern and reclaiming control over their data.
Ways to Minimize Tracking Across Social Media Platforms
As of now, there is no concrete way to completely escape tracking, especially if you want to use social media. However, there are meaningful steps that will reduce how much information is collected and further shared. The key is to follow a simple flow-chart for every social media profile:
- Adjust privacy settings – Privacy settings are the cornerstone of any privacy-focused individual, as they are the simplest and fastest way to cut down how much of your data is out there. So make sure to individually go through each of your accounts across all platforms and adjust their settings to be more privacy-focused. This includes turning off targeted advertising categories and minimizing personalization as well as data sharing.
- Use privacy-focused browsers and extensions – There are many privacy-focused tools that are widely available. For most users, the easiest solution is to utilize a browser like Brave, which has built-in tracking protection for third-party cookies. Simply using the browser is a good baseline, but it can be improved through extensions such as Privacy Badger or Ghostery.
- Clear cookies regularly and use private browsing modes – Make sure to regularly clear device memory and cookies to prevent any background tracking. You can also utilize incognito modes during browsing sessions or research to prevent data from going directly into your social media advertising.
- Use separate accounts and devices – The best way to hinder data profiles is to diversify your browsing whenever possible. By delegating specific browsers or devices to private or work activities, you effectively split your data profile in two. This makes excessive tracking very difficult and keeps your data spread across multiple profiles.
- Limit app permissions – Apps have access to a lot of data; as such, it is important to limit how much of it they can see. By limiting their premises, you can cut down data leakage, because a calculator app will never need access to your location data.
By following these steps, you minimize how much data you allow to be collected and further distributed. Of course, you will never completely prevent the creation of data profiles, but these steps will hinder data brokers’ efforts significantly, which will result in a cleaner and more private digital footprint for you.
Staying Safe Online
Because of the widespread use of cookies and trackers, so much so that they are unavoidable. It is important to understand what you can do to minimize unwanted tracking and how to stay away from ‘’unsafe’’ cookies. Everyone should start by adjusting their browser settings, as modern browsers offer this as a common service. Browser settings, such as these, are very good for creating a security basis for your personal data.
However, you can always go a bit further by implementing online privacy-focused extensions and opting out of data collection as you browse. Additionally, we recommend that you take advantage of incognito browsing and separate profiles. By separating your personal browsing from work or shopping, you will significantly reduce cross-site data connections. This is the best practice, as it will minimize your digital footprint.
All of this combined will help keep your browsing private and minimize how much personal data escapes from your social media. So if you want to have a private browsing experience and keep your interests and posts to yourself, make sure to implement effective privacy steps. Or if your data is already out there, utilize your rights to take back control of your data and reshape your digital footprint.